20demayo Chapter 1 There are true immortals in the back mountains of Wudang!
Chapter 1 There are true immortals in the back mountains of Wudang!
"Your Majesty, something terrible has happened!"
December of the 40th year of the Jiajing reign.
Inside the Longevity Palace in the Western Garden of the Forbidden City, Beijing.
Emperor Jiajing, Zhu Houcong, was dressed in a Taoist robe and sat cross-legged.
He had not attended court for twenty years.
The eunuch Huang Jin knelt outside the threshold, his voice trembling: "Your Majesty, Master Lan... Master Lan, he..."
"explain."
Zhu Houcong didn't even open his eyes.
Huang Jin lowered his head even further: "Master Lan took your newly refined Nine-Turn Golden Elixir, and half an hour ago... he passed away."
The hall was silent for a few seconds.
Zhu Houcong opened his eyes, his pupils reflecting the firelight in the furnace, his face ashen.
This is the sixth one already.
Six Taoist priests died after consuming the elixirs he concocted.
"waste!"
Zhu Houcong overturned the teacup in front of him, shattering the porcelain pieces all over the floor.
He stood up, the hem of his Taoist robe sweeping across the ground, his breathing rapid.
He is fifty-four years old this year.
Half of my hair has turned white, three of my teeth are loose, I can't sleep at night, and I have no energy during the day.
He is afraid of death.
He was terrified of dying.
Over the past twenty years, he has met no fewer than two hundred Taoist priests.
Some say it can be used to refine elixirs of immortality, some say it can draw heavenly lightning into the body, and some say it can absorb the essence of the sun and moon.
The results of it?
They're all scammers.
The pills killed six people, and he himself had taken quite a few. Recently, he had been feeling a tightness in his chest and his fingers were turning black.
"Huang Jin".
"Your servant is here."
Zhu Houcong stopped, his gaze darkening. "How's the investigation going on Wudang Mountain?"
Huang Jin was taken aback for a moment, then quickly pulled out a secret report from his sleeve: "Your Majesty, the Jinyiwei's spies have reported that there are indeed strange phenomena in the back mountains of Wudang."
"read."
"Three months ago, deep in the back mountains of Wudang, red lights shot into the sky several times at night, and the vegetation within a ten-mile radius remained evergreen, not withering even in the depths of winter. Local hunters said they saw a boy in the back mountains start a fire out of thin air, without fuel or charcoal, the flames were blue and hung in his palm. Others said that an old man and a boy lived in a stone cave in the back mountains. The old man was burly and had a voice like thunder. The boy had a handsome appearance and bright eyes, and looked no more than seventeen or eighteen years old."
Zhu Houcong's breathing suddenly became heavy.
Fire appears out of thin air.
Blue flames.
The vegetation is evergreen.
This is not something a scammer could fake.
He had seen plenty of the tricks of those wandering Taoist priests, such as using phosphorus powder to start fires or changing the color of medicinal powders—all of which were just illusions.
But how can you fake "the grass and trees do not wither in the depths of winter"?
"A true immortal..."
Zhu Houcong murmured, his eyes brightening, his lips trembling.
"Huang Jin, summon Lu Bing!"
"Your Majesty, Commander Lu already..."
"So who's in charge of the Embroidered Uniform Guard now?"
"Commander Zhu Xixiao."
"Summon him here!"
Half an hour later, Zhu Xixiao, the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, knelt in front of the Wanshou Palace.
Zhu Houcong personally threw the secret report in front of him.
"Take your men to the back of Wudang Mountain."
Zhu Xixiao picked up the secret report and read it through, feeling uneasy.
He worked in the Embroidered Uniform Guard for more than ten years. What kind of monsters and demons hadn't he seen?
Of the so-called "true immortals," nine and a half out of ten are frauds, and the remaining half is a madman.
But since the emperor had given the order, he dared not disobey.
"Does His Majesty wish for me to invite that immortal to the capital?"
"please?"
Zhu Houcong gave a cold laugh.
"I want his cultivation techniques."
Zhu Xixiao's heart sank.
They're not hiring people, they're stealing things.
"Take three hundred Imperial Guards and bring him back to me. If he refuses to come..."
Zhu Houcong paused, his eyes turning cold.
"Then take everything from him. Not a single book, not a single piece of paper, not a single pill—don't let me miss anything."
"Your subject obeys the decree."
Zhu Xixiao kowtowed, stood up, and left.
As he reached the door, he heard Zhu Houcong's voice behind him, so soft it was almost inaudible.
"I want to live forever."
Four words, carrying a wild energy.
Zhu Xixiao felt a chill run down his spine and quickened his pace as he left the West Garden.
Seven days later.
Wudang Mountain, the back mountain.
In December, Wudang Mountain is covered in snow.
But the back mountain is different.
As you walk further in from the mountainside, the snow gets thinner and thinner. Deeper in, the ground is completely clean, without even a trace of frost.
The trees on both sides were lush and green, almost blindingly so.
The air carried a faint warmth, like springtime.
At the end of the mountain path lies a wide, flat area.
Two large stones were placed in the middle of the flat ground, and two people were sitting on the stones.
A boy and an old man.
The boy looked to be seventeen or eighteen years old, wearing a faded gray cloth Taoist robe, his hair casually tied up with a wooden hairpin.
His right hand was suspended in mid-air, holding a small ball of blue flame in his palm, about the size of a fist.
The flames flickered, without escaping any heat, yet they roasted the sweet potatoes placed between two stones until they sizzled and dripped with oil.
This young man's name is Zhu Zaiyi.
According to official historical records, he was the eldest son of the Jiajing Emperor, was made crown prince at the age of two, and died suddenly at the age of fourteen.
But in reality, he didn't die.
He was stolen from the palace and sent to Wudang Mountain.
The person who brought him here was something that called itself "the system".
He was just two years old that year, and didn't understand anything. Suddenly, a voice appeared in his head, telling him:
You have the aptitude to cultivate immortality.
You can cultivate.
You can live forever.
The price is that you must leave the palace.
Two-year-old Zhu Zaiyi was of course unable to make a choice.
The system did it for him.
In a daring act, a sickly orphan took his place, "dying" in his place at the age of fourteen.
The real Zhu Zaiyi spent fifteen years cultivating in the back mountains of Wudang.
In fifteen years, he progressed from the Qi Refining stage to the Golden Core stage.
In this world devoid of spiritual energy and cultivators, he is the only one who has embarked on the path of cultivation.
The cultivation methods, elixir formulas, and spells that the system gave him were all genuine.
Samadhi Fire, Wind Control Technique, Body Freeze Technique, Spiritual Power Barrier.
These things might not seem like much in the world of cultivation, but in the Ming Dynasty, they were considered divine.
"The sweet potatoes are ready."
Zhu Zaiyi withdrew the flames into his palm, and with a casual clench of his hand, the blue flames dissipated.
He picked up a roasted sweet potato, broke it open, and handed it to the old man opposite him.
"Grand Ancestor, please eat first."
He called me by the wrong name.
The old man opposite me is not Emperor Taizu, but Emperor Chengzu.
Emperor Yongle, Zhu Di.
But Zhu Zaiyi just liked calling him that.
Because the system gave him a second cheat code, which was to resurrect an ancestor of the Zhu family.
He chose Zhu Di.
There was no other reason than that Zhu Di was a skilled warrior.
Although Zhu Di, after his resurrection, lacked the aptitude for cultivating immortality, his body was enhanced by the system, making him equivalent to a strong military general in his sixties. He possessed the strength to draw a three-stone bow and could run faster than a horse.
Zhu Di took the sweet potato, took a big bite, and mumbled, "This stuff is good, better than military rations."
He has been staying in this back mountain for three years.
Three years ago, Zhu Zaiyi used the "Resurrection Talisman" awarded by the system to pull him out from underground.
On the first day after waking up, Zhu Di almost strangled Zhu Zaiyi to death.
He thought he had been captured by a monster.
Later, after figuring out the situation, he learned that he had been dead for over a hundred years and had been resurrected by a great-great-grandson.
He accepted it very quickly.
Because Zhu Zai Rui made him witness the Samadhi True Fire with his own eyes.
Zhu Di had seen everything in his life, but he had never seen anyone set fire to something out of thin air.
From that day on, he lived with Zhu Zai Rui in the back mountain and didn't go anywhere else.
"Rui'er".
After Zhu Di finished eating half a sweet potato, he looked up and glanced at Zhu Zaiyi.
"You mean the one sitting on the dragon throne now, is he some generation descendant of mine?"
"Your great-great-grandson. By seniority, you are his great-great-grandfather's great-great-grandfather."
"What's his name?"
"Zhu Houcong".
"Jiajing," Zhu Di nodded, "the one who didn't attend court for twenty years?"
Zhu Zaiyi remained silent.
He told Zhu Di about this, and Zhu Di was so angry that he uprooted a pine tree as thick as a bowl.
"Still refining pills?"
"It's still there."
Zhu Di snorted and said nothing more.
What could he say?
Those are his descendants.
No matter how despicable he is, he is still a descendant of the Zhu family.
The two of them ate sweet potatoes quietly.
A mountain breeze rustled the leaves.
Suddenly, Zhu Zaiyi stopped chewing.
He tilted his head and looked towards the mountain path in the southeast.
"Someone's coming."
Zhu Di's ears twitched: "How many people?"
"A little over a hundred. They all carried knives."
Zhu Di narrowed his eyes: "Who is it?"
Zhu Zaiyi listened for two more breaths, then whispered three words.
"The Embroidered Uniform Guard".